Prayer vigil at Syracuse church shows support for Roman Catholic nuns

Mike Greenlar / The Post StandardNancy Sullivan Murray (right), of Syracuse, signs the call to action petition supporting the sisters after the Prayer Vigil of Solidarity with the Sisters held at St. Lucy's Church Tuesday night. Estelle Hahn, of DeWitt, is at left.

Roughly 125 people filled St. Lucy’s Church Tuesday evening with prayers and praise for Roman Catholic nuns and an organization that represents them.

The prayer vigil organized by St. Lucy’s Justice and Peace Committee is part of a nationwide response among some Catholics to a recent Vatican criticism of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. It’s a group said to represent more than 80 percent of the country’s 57,000 nuns.

The vigil, which drew roughly 25 sisters and at least two priests, steered clear of direct comment about the Vatican or its actions toward the conference. The event consisted of prayer, song and a few stories people shared about nuns who’d had an impact on their lives.

The event was timed in part to support the conference in its deliberations about how to respond to the Vatican. It will meet Tuesday to discuss the situation.

“We’re here tonight to pray for them and pray that the spirit will guide them in their response to the Vatican,” said St. Lucy parishioner and event organizer Marilyn Goulet.

Mike Greenlar / The Post StandardSister Lucy Flaherty (back to camera) reads Vatican II Documents - Renewal of Religious Life, at the Prayer Vigil of Solidarity with the Sisters, held at St. Lucy's Church Tuesday night.

In April, the Vatican issued an assessment of the Leadership Conference after a lengthy review prompted by its concerns about the organization. As a consequence of the assessment, the Vatican appointed an archbishop to oversee what it said is the process of bringing the conference into accordance with the teachings and discipline of the church and the Vatican.

Goulet, among others, refer to the Vatican action as a crackdown.

The Vatican said its assessment of the conference was prompted by three major concerns.

Addresses given at conference assemblies included “problematic statements and serious theological, even doctrinal, errors,” the Vatican said in the assessment.

The conference has shown evidence of dissent, for instance, when it comes to the ordination of women and the “correct pastoral approach to ministry to homosexual persons…,” it said.

Also, the assessment said, some conference programs and presentations had a “prevalence of certain radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith…"

Goulet and Cathy Gregory, who chairs the Justice and Peace Committee, consider the assessment to be strong and unfounded criticism.

The Vatican’s actions have drawn fire - and support - from Catholics around the country. The Nun Justice Project, made up of a number of Catholic organizations, called for vigils of support for the sisters on Tuesdays in May.

Locally, the Vatican action has generated a spate of letters to the editor, some criticizing the Vatican and others saying the Vatican was rightly supportiive of traditional Catholic theology. Goulet expects the issue to snowball within the church.

“My feeling is the American people are quite shocked and very much in support of the sisters throughout the country and all that they’ve done. They have seen it, they have experienced it in their hospitals, in their nursing homes, in their schools and parishes,” she said.

Gregory thinks the Vatican action toward the conference could result in more people leaving the church and in more anger toward the church. She thinks it is a watershed issue for the American Catholic church.

The Rev. Jim Mathews, of St. Lucy’s, said he hopes it is a watershed issue.

“The climate is the climate of fear, that there’s no room for dissenting voices in our church,” he said.

The assessment is an example of that climate, Mathews said.

Sister Colette Walter, who cares for the terminally ill at Francis House, said the sisters were privileged to have the support of the laity shown at the vigil. She hopes the issue can be resolved without some sort of split or schism.

Walter said she felt angry when she read the assessment, which seemed to find only the negative in what the sisters have done.

“The only thing I can say is we know who we are and we know what we’ve done in our religious communities for the poor, for the sick, and we’ve always been above board so to speak in everything we’ve done.” she said.